Critter News

OCTOBER 10, 2010

It looks like they are getting killed by ships as they try to eat krill. Researchers say the animals appear to be following abundant swarms of krill - the tiny, shrimp-like creatures that make up whales' favorite food group - right into the path of ship traffic. Really sad.

Whales 100

Whales Whaling San Francisco Marine Life 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The Cherokee nation called them “Peace Eagles” owing to the fact that they never killed a living thing – and also that they tended to show up in numbers after battled when peace treaties were being signed, though admittedly that may have been for a slightly more macabre reason. California Condor , photo by Sheridan Woodley.

California Condor 182

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 182

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

There were birders from a wide cross-section of the United States: Colorado, Ohio, Idaho, Iowa, Wyoming, Washington State, Pennsylvania, New York State, New Jersey, California, Texas, Florida. The leopards place their kill in a tree, protecting it from poaching by other predators. So, the best way to find a leopard is to find the kill.

South Africa 253

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 253

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2014

Sentient people recoil at the idea of leg-hold traps, those medieval–torture devices which cause so much pain and suffering before their victims eventually die, are killed, or (very occasionally) are rescued. Here’s why. He died five months later, before I could let him go.”. Fly strips, popular in stables, are bird killers too.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 279

Wildlife Rehabilitation Mice Rodents Rescue 279

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2013

And so, when Salvador Ramirez left, there were feral goats on the island of San Clemente, the southernmost of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. No wait, they were, but they had experienced so much genetic drift and selective pressure that they now constituted a unique breed in their own right.

Goats 160

Goats Bald Eagle Fox Feral 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2013

She has lived in Maine, California, France, New York, and currently makes her home in Virginia Beach Always bringing her camera along, Erika is building her life-list by trying to check off at least one new species each week in her field guide. Hopping almost right next to me, I later identified it as the Boat-tailed Grackle !

Florida 165

Florida DC Washington Birds 165

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

And managing means killing them, breeding them, and otherwise fiddling with their populations. if we believe it's our right to do what we want with the lives of other animals. . . . Tags: Activism Books Current Affairs Ethics Language 100 Heartbeats animal rights Jeff Corwin veganism.

Polar Bears 100

Polar Bears California Condor Bald Eagle Lions 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2012

Because I have birded southern California in winter several times there weren’t any of the normally occurring birds that I could get within easy reach of my in-laws house in Orange County. There were, however, several rarities around that would get me to 500 birds. Binoculars up into the dark and wet and YES!

San Marino 105

San Marino Los Angeles Birds Laws 105

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2016

The Brightsoruce Power Plant, in California, uses mirrors to concentrate solar energy to nearly a single point, where things get so hot you can melt metal. Some estimates suggested that something like 28,000 birds would be killed per year in this plant. Also, cats kill many more per year. It just turns into gas and dust.

Killing 189

Killing Psychology Birds California 189

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Then, as often happens, a PhD student (one of mine) by the name of Rusty Low came along and proved that the Holocene was full of all sorts of rapid climate change thus killing my beautiful hypothesis with a bunch of ugly facts. Well, that’s probably a little bit true, but only a very little bit.

Penguins 200

Penguins Birds Cooking Fish 200

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2012

In responding to Suzie’s post defending wildlife rehabilitation I began to think again about the areas in which animal rights and animal welfare overlap with the field of conservation, and the ways in which they don’t. Animal rights is concerned with preventing the suffering or even use of animals by humans.

Animal Rights 263

Animal Rights Rights New Zealand Animal 263

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

To the Editor: Soon after I read Gary Steiner’s article, my wife asked me to kill a spider, which I did. We kill so many living creatures when we build a house, construct a road, drive down that road or just walk on a path. But even then if we were to survive we would have to kill some animals in self-defense.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Vegan Vegetarian 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 16, 2009

The overwhelming passage in November of Proposition 2 in California, which banned tight confinement of many of the animals raised for food, is a fine example of the power of publicity to educate people about the atrocities we commit to those animals who have no voice of their own. That’s right, for me—but it may not be for others.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Proposition 2 Free Range 40

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

That’s right, the overwhelming benefits to the environment and the economy are generated by non-consumptive uses of the refuges like wildlife photography, environmental education, wildlife observation and interpretation, not hunting and fishing. The State of Louisiana has increased fines for illegal killing of bears.

Fish 143

Fish Wildlife Hunting Game 143

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 2, 2008

Kristof, who takes note of the trend represented by the animal welfare proposition on the ballot in California this fall. Since our food is delivered to us on a bun or in big bags of frozen parts, it’s easy to eat it and not think about what it was or how it was killed. Government animal rights regulations may help.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Factory Farm Factory Farming 40

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

I was fortunate to rack up a number of lifers in 2013, both at home and abroad ( Varied Thrush in Washington, Brewer’s Blackbirds in California, Burrowing Owl in the Nevada desert). Tragic, right? Meredith enjoyed her first sighting of an awesome migration spectacle. She blogged about it here.

2013 167

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 167

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2017

Yes, it was one of those rare birds that is foraging right in front of you, in this case in a bed of small purple flowers, too close to photograph. One of them had to be injured, possibly killed. At least, in California and possibly other places where it is invasive. No,” I was told, “Look down. Well–it’s a theory.

California 174

California New York New York City New York Times 174

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2018

Watch out for Tom during October to see this anomaly put right. 1210 Minder Drive, Redding, California, US (40.596, -122.336). 1210 Minder Drive, Redding, California, US (40.596, -122.336). 1210 Minder Drive, Redding, California, US (40.596, -122.336). 301 N Virginia Dare Trl, Kill Devil Hills US-NC (36.0166,-75.6573).

2018 113

2018 Australia Woodpeckers Los Angeles 113

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2019

This year the big prize must go to Tom who has pushed himself, right to the wire to acheive a magnificent score for a self-funded, wife-organised, wife-sponsored Little Big Year , accounting for 57% of the total. California Quail – Callipepla californica. California Gull – Larus californicus. PN Volcán Irazú.

2018 113

2018 Australia Woodpeckers Sparrows 113

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2021

COVID kept me from traveling internationally, and my only major domestic trip of the year was to California where I have birded quite a bit already. Let’s jump right in, shall we? Mountain Quail , 12 August, Lake Tahoe, California (2nd sighting and first in over a decade). All that said, 2021 was not a total loss.

New York 257

New York Birds California Owls 257